HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky’s grandson, Reb Gedalia Honigsberg, spoke about how the difficult situation in the Chareidi sector in Israel is making itself known in the Gadol HaDor’s home in recent days, in an article published last week in HaBama. “In recent days, unfortunately, there is a never-ending stream of phone calls requesting a bracha from Saba for coronavirus patients,” Reb Gedalia said. “It’s very bad – I can’t remember a time when there were so many coronavirus patients, with so many of them seriously ill – Hashem Yeracheim.” “On Friday night, Saba was up and busy learning the entire night until Tefillas Neitz. After davening Shacharis, Saba was tired and went to lie down a bit.

Israel’s military chief Tuesday warned the Biden administration against rejoining the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, even if it toughens its terms, adding he’s ordered his forces to step up preparations for possible offensive action against Iran during the coming year. The comments by Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi came as Israel and Iran both seek to put pressure on President Joe Biden ahead of his expected announcement on his approach for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program. In Iran, leaders said they would not wait indefinitely for Biden to act. The 2015 deal put curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the easing of crippling economic sanctions. Israel strongly opposed the deal, saying it did not include sufficient safeguards to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The Health Ministry said on Monday that in light of the still high infection rate, lockdown restrictions should be extended for another week, until February 7. Currently, the lockdown is scheduled to expire on January 31. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with the Cabinet on Tuesday evening to approve the issue. A grim record high of 68 fatalities in the previous 24 hours was confirmed on Monday evening, the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic, with the death toll now at 4,478. Over 1,000 fatalities have been recorded since the beginning of January. Overcrowded hospitals have been forced to instruct ambulances carrying virus patients to wait outside for hours while they struggle to free up space in their virus wards.

Maccabi, Israel’s second-largest Kupas Cholim (HMO), said on Monday that of 128,000 people who received both doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, only 0.01%, or 20 people, were subsequently infected with the coronavirus. The 20 patients, half of whom have preexisting chronic conditions, experienced mostly mild symptoms and none were hospitalized. “Maccabi reports that out of the 20 people infected, 50% suffer from chronic illnesses,” the Kupah stated. “All patients experienced mild illness with symptoms including headaches, cough, weakness or fatigue. No-one was hospitalized or suffered from a fever above 38.5 C.

In a shocking post entitled This Is What A Collapse Looks Like, MDA paramedic Aharon Adler describes the horrifying situation in recent days in Israel’s hospitals. “A little after eight in the morning, we’re called to the bedside of a coronavirus patient with serious breathing difficulties. The patient is in the emergency underground coronavirus ward. As we make our way to the ward, we hear ambulance after ambulance approaching the hospital, seeking to evacuate its patients that were sent far from their cities to hospitals in central Israel – to Ichilov, Beilinson, Sheba – but no, they’re also full now.” “The call center informs us that even if our patient is in life-threatening danger, we can’t admit him to any hospital in Jerusalem.

Some 900 people who survived the Holocaust died from COVID-19 in Israel last year, the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. The bureau reported that about 5,300 survivors of the World War II-era mass murder of European Jews and other groups by the Nazis were infected in 2020 with the coronavirus. The pandemic began its global rampage about a year ago. About 17% of those Holocaust survivors died of the virus, similar to the percentage of others of the same age. All Holocaust survivors are at least 75 years old and COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, is especially lethal to seniors. In 2020, about 3,000 more Israelis were recognized as Holocaust survivors and about 17,000 survivors died. Of the dead, about 900 died of COVID-19, the government said.

The condition of a mother of 15 from Beitar Illit who contracted the coronavirus during her eighth month of pregnancy has taken a turn for the worse, Kikar H’Shabbos reported on Monday evening. She has been attached to an ECMO machine and doctors are fighting to save her life. Earlier on Monday, the doctors performed an emergency C-section in order to save her baby. The woman’s daughter was scheduled to get married in several days but the wedding has been pushed off. The public is asked is asked to daven for the refuah of Chava Feiga Baila bas Chaya Malka b’toch shaar cholei Yisrael. Another Kikar report on Tuesday afternoon said that a 45-year-old mother of eight from Bnei Brak suffered a deterioration in her condition and was attached to an ECMO machine.

An NYPD officer was shot in the Bronx on Tuesday night. It happened at 10:30PM at Whiteplains Road & Lafayette Avenue. The Officer being was rushed to the hospital by an NYPD cruiser. The suspect is in custody and a weapon has been recovered. The condition of the officer is unknown. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The post BREAKING: NYPD Officer Shot In The Bronx appeared first on The Yeshiva World.

A day after a coronavirus patient died in an ambulance after all the hospitals in Jerusalem refused to accept her due to lack of room, a Channel 12 News report on Monday said that over 200 ambulances with virus patients had to wait for several hours outside hospitals while staff scrambled to free up beds. When patients were finally admitted, some found themselves in beds in the emergency room rather than the coronavirus ward – simply because the emergency room was the only place empty beds could be found, the report said. On Sunday, MDA commissioner Eli Bin told Army Radio that an elderly nursing home resident suffering severe respiratory difficulties passed away on Sunday after no hospital in Jerusalem agreed to accept her due to lack of room.

Sen. Patrick Leahy was hospitalized out of an abundance of caution on Wednesday, just hours after presiding over the opening of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. “This evening, Senator Leahy was in his Capitol office and was not feeling well. He was examined in the Capitol by the Attending Physician,” his spokesperson David Carle said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Attending Physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital for observation, where he is now, and where he is being evaluated.” As the Senate president pro tempore — the longest-serving senator of the majority party — the 80-year-old Vermont Democrat is presiding over Trump’s impeachment trial in lieu of Chief Justice John Roberts.